1. Field of Invention
This invention relates in general to a gyro-type aircraft, and more specifically to gyro type aircraft that have the ability to hover.
2. Description of the Related Art
Air transport of cargo is typically handled by either large airplanes or large helicopters. Large airplanes have an advantage of being much faster than helicopters, but the disadvantage of requiring long runways. Large helicopters have the advantage of vertical take offhand landing but are not as fast as airplanes. Another advantage of helicopters is the ability to hover, or maintain a relatively static position over a location on the surface below. This feature is useful in many situations including rescue operations over water and unstable surfaces.
One vehicle that can achieve relatively high speeds and achieve vertical take off and landings is the gyroplane, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,754. The gyroplane uses pre-rotation of a weighted rotor to achieve vertical take off without the need for a tail rotor. The rotor is not powered once the gyroplane leaves the ground. The craft flies in a manner similar to auto-gyros, except that at high speeds the rotor may be unloaded as the wings begin to create sufficient lift. This allows the rotor to slow and reduces advancing tip speed, which is the major limiting factor in highspeed rotor craft. In it""s current state of development the pre-rotation method of vertical take off possess some technical problems for lifting large payloads. Also, the gyroplane cannot hover.
It would be advantageous to have a cargo craft capable of traveling at higher speeds than a helicopter, but also able to achieve vertical take off and landing and hovering.